Building an Army of Greatness

Who has or is this boss?

Social media is still a difficult concept for some, especially when the return on investment isn't as clear as others.  So imagine what the response would be if you were trying to convince your boss that you wanted to set up an internal social network?

Well if you weren't fired on the spot, laughed out of the room, or sued for injuries due to everyones jaws hitting the floor you'd be off to a good start.  Although I'm sure it wouldn't take long before you were shut down and told to come up with some real ideas.

Lets back this bandwagon up a bit, imagine trying to convince your boss that you wanted to turn the companies employees into an AMRY OF GREATNESS!!!!  

Now you've got their attention.

The unfortunate part is that some people can't see the two as the same.  Employees are some of the companies greatest resources (many would argue the best), the problem many companies face is the ability to communicate within the company (everyone is agreeing with me right now because everyone hates all the hoops people have to jump through instead of getting A to talk B).

I've talked a lot about the importance of social media outside the company (read all or any of my previous posts), but it is equally important to establish the communication social media provides within the company.

Think of how much information is on the internet.  How did there get to be soooo much available?  EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES.  I'm not going to argue the fact that there is a ton of useless cat stuff on the internet but there is an incredible amount of priceless information as well.  We continually go back to the sources that give us the information we're needing, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Wikis, you name it and people are on it looking for the right information to fulfil their needs.  How incredible would it be to have this type of resource at work?  (Yes I know everyone has the internet at work so drop that lame argument right now) I'm talking about a way to convey information internally that all employees would have access too and would remain among the employees (sorry but public access denied).

I've previously talked about:

LISTENING 
TALKING 
ENERGIZING 
SUPPORTING 

Each of these aspects, that should be typically applied to outside clientele, should be applied internally.  The function of the organization would depend on the implementation and system.  Just as people use different sources for different information, companies would need to figure out what works best for them.  Communities, Wikis, and idea exchanges are all excellent tools to use.  These tools can be set up on a secure server within the company and only accessed by employees, but what these tools do is ENABLE and STRENGTHEN the people within the business.  These systems allow employees to share ideas and information and rectify any outstanding issues among departments, they OPEN COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE COMPANY.

Has anyone watched +Undercover Boss?  The whole purpose of the show is for the C suite (executives) to learn about the company from the employees up.  They need to do this cause there is no INTERNAL COMMUNICATION and it's a necessity in business today.

The old saying, "Two heads are better than one" rings true but how much stronger would you be if you're dealing with a company full of employees, the possibilites would be endless.  Empower your employees and watch the ARMY OF GREATNESS evolve.

ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.

A Shot of Adrenaline? Yes Please.

I have WAY to much ENERGY!!! - said no one ever.  Energy has to be one of the most sought after aspects of life.  We look for it in the foods we eat, the amount of sleep we get, the morning coffee that can't seem to come fast enough, or in desperate times we'll even opt for a nice sugar rush.  People can't seem to get enough, just look at the energy drink industry, there's been an explosion in sales and products over the last 5-10 years.

How do we get that kind of energy into our businesses, services, products, or customers/users?  It's not like we can give them a protein bar and a +Red Bull or sick +terry crews on them.

What if we were able to get a little bit of energy from everyone?  What would that look like?  I think it would look something like .....

I guess what I'm trying to say is, TURN EVERYONES ENERGY INTO $$$$


Word of mouth is one of the strongest marketing tools anyone can use, but you have to get people talking about your products ***

***When I say products this covers whatever you hope to get across to people, it could be an actual product, or service or simply a message, it completely depends on what you're trying to promote.  These lessons can be applied to a one man operation running a blog or the CMO (chief marketing officer) of a large corporation. ***

When people hear reviews good or bad they have a much higher tendency to follow them.  Just think about it for a minute, when was the last time you made a big purchase like a car, computer, camera, or trip.  How many reviews did you read?  I'm going to go out on a limb (that is backed by research), and say you probably read a few investing roughly 4-6 hours total (not in one sitting).  Throughout all of your research how many of you valued the reviews?  That's what I thought, EVERYONE (I can feel everyones hands in the air).  The key is getting our customers/users to contribute to the word of mouth / review process.  By tapping into a little energy from everyone, a lot of energy will be put into your business or services.

This is considerably easier when you start with a good product (I have to say that even though I know everyone reading this has the highest quality products, posts, or content out there), because people want to tell there friends and family about the awesomeness you just provided.

Three ways you can capitalize on peoples willingness to share are:

1. Provide ways for customers to give ratings and reviews - If a customer just bought a jacket I was selling, and loved it, it would be a missed opportunity to not give him or her a chance to share their experience with others.  The more people read good reviews and see high ratings, the more they're likely to entertain the idea of your product.  From a social media perspective, the posts that catch your eye are the ones that people are sharing, liking, plussing, and retweeting.

2. Create a Community - There is a lot of information on the internet (SURPRISE), and people have very similar interests, Creating Communities are one of the best ways to bring people together that have common interests.  If you can get communities forming around your product*** think of the traction you can gain with spreading the WORD (word of mouth) about your products or services.

3. Participate - Regardless of your industry, or topics, participation is MANDATORY!!!  If you're not willing to contribute to YOUR cause no one else will do it for you.  If you're the glue holding the community together things can fall apart really quick if you're not willing to work at it.  Remember the AFOL's, if Lego had let that group go they would be passing up $50 million in sales.


Getting customers/users involved can give you the shot of adrenaline you're services need, just remember who you're targeting (we're aiming for the top of the ladder).  In case you missed this extremely important post, here's a snip it of who's on-line and who we want to target.

We want the CREATORS on our side (even if we are one).

Before you jump in, a few areas must be looked at.

1. Know what you want and what you have - Creating energy around your products or services isn't always a mandatory thing.  If you're selling commercial toothpicks it may be tough to generate a lot of buzz around the product, make sure you're putting your efforts in areas that will pay off.  You may not target the product but a community based around dental hygiene may show promising results.

2. Check the social technographics of your customers/users - The reality is that the younger your customers are the easier it'll be to target them as they are much more comfortable on-line.  This simply means that the creators that serve an older demographic become much more important to your process.

3. Determine what your customers/users need - The old adage, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" may ring true.  Don't overstep your bounds, it is important to do all that you can, but it is possible to cross lines causing more issues than were there to begin with.

4. Make sure your strategy serves its purpose - The POST process is what will keep you on track.  Having very clear goals and targets will keep efforts aligned.  Following a plan will keep you from chasing your tail and getting no where.

5. Don't start unless you can stay with it - Putting effort and energy into building communities, providing service, addressing concerns, and promoting your products*** will all be for nothing and could possibly leave an animosity towards you if you just drop it once you've gained peoples trust and support.


It's amazing how much power word of mouth provides for businesses and people.  Wether it's shown in the form of ratings, reviews, likes, shares, tweets, or plusses, people value what other people have to say.  Harness that power and make sure it's working for you.


ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.

Cause it's not as easy as just giving your brand a +Red Bull.

What Can 140 Characters Do For You?

One of the most viable lessons I'm learning about social media is that, IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT.  What do I mean?  I mean that, You only get out what you put in.

Do any of these look familiar?  Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 10 years you should recognize a few of them.  How do they effect us as users or businesses?

Looking at each of them I can comfortably say that I prefer some over others because of what I put into them.  It's not easy starting a presence on a new site, it can be down right discouraging at times.  Every time you log in to see the 20 people that are following you, have you in circles, or are linked to, it can cause frustration because we all have the most important information to share.  Right?

INSTANT GRATIFICATION does not happen on social media, it takes TIME.  When approaching a new platform one must figure out what the purpose of that platform is, the power it has, and how you will use it.

Perspective is everything.  I remember not too long ago when Google + arrived on the scene and everyone said that it was a "Ghost Town".  No one was on the site and it would soon die.  Could this be a result of people logging on and seeing 20 people in their circles with none of them posting anything?  I'm going to go with YESSSS.  The reality is that Google + happens to be one of the stronger platforms emerging today.

My "Ghost Town" is Twitter.

It is easy to sit back and simply ignore the platforms that your not involved in cause "Ignorance Is Bliss" and breaking into a new platform is DIFFICULT, but does that mean one of the largest platforms and strongest tools should be ignored?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!

How powerful is Twitter?  Well ask anyone who has lost their job cause of a stupid tweet.  Ask anyone that has been disqualified from Olympic competition for comments on the platform.  Ask anyone who has had to retract their tweets and issue public apologies.  These momentous feats can all be accomplished within 140 characters.  

One of the strongest aspects about Twitter is that it gives you/business/brand the ability to LISTEN to what people are saying about it (I have talked about the importance of listening and establishing strategy here).  But not only does it allow you to LISTEN, it gives you the ability to TALK TO them as well.

My first post ever talked about a few key areas to focus on with social media.  I strongly recommend those points as well as a couple others that you can specifically use for Twitter (these are relevant for other social platforms as well).

1. Lock up your handle - If someone gets ahold of your handle (user name) and uses it for porn, spam, or phishing your brand could be tarnished before you even knew what was going on.  This is relevant for companies that are already functioning as well as ones just getting started.

2. Listen first - This specifically applies to companies that are already in full swing.  It is important to know what people are already tweeting about you before you start posting.  You need to know what the temperature is before you jump in or you could get burned.

3. Be ready to support people - If there are any complaints or needs from customers/followers, you better be ready to help.  Services like Twitter empower people and give them the opportunity to voice their concerns, because Twitter can be such a direct link to the company people will often use this to try and address their concerns.

4. Follow others - It's FREE and a great way to spread your brand.  Quite often people will follow you back as long as you don't become annoying like some companies can.  Just remember how to post properly (in case you missed it).

5. Be ready for a crisis - People will be looking to Twitter and social first (even before the companies own website) to see a response as to why Lulu lemon pants are to thin or why the NHL is locked out.  Initial responses here can go a long way when disaster strikes.

6. Respond, retweet, and link - No one likes carrying on a one sided conversation.  And when you're trying to establish your brand on a platform you have to show people that you care.  If you're not willing to engage your followers, customers, or users then you will FAIL at ALL aspects of social media.

7. Staff it - This must become part of peoples job tasks.  Whether you're a one man show or a million dollar firm these responsibilities must be assigned to a few people to make sure it is not over looked.  The best results will come from people that care about the business.  Hiring the kid out of high school may not be your best bet as they will become the representation of the business to many.

8. Check with legal and regulatory staff - Clearly this is for businesses that have these resources, because Tweets are public speech it is important to make sure lines aren't being crossed as I mentioned earlier jobs can be lost, apologies may be needed, and sometimes severe consequences can result in poorly released statements.  USE YOUR FILTER!!!!!

9. Having gathered a following don't waste it - People and businesses will work hard on developing significant followings and it is a shame when they're not utilized.  People followed you because there was something that attracted them there.  Businesses spend billions of dollars trying to attract people and if you are able to obtain this and fail to use it all of your efforts are for nothing.  Being able to ride a wave of momentum in social media can be worth MILLIONS.  Think of each follower as a person happy to help you spread your message.


Like I said earlier Twitter is my "Ghost Town" and I'm hoping to change that.  My personal handle is @Vanhub and I would love to engage with people over there.  I will post similarly to my Google + account with business, sports, the outdoors, and posts that hopefully put a smile on your face.



ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.


How bad do you want it?

Is a Thank You worth $Millions

Can anyone disput the fact that good feelings help brighten your day?  I didn't think so.  That's like saying you don't like sunshine or you can't stand it when babies laugh.  EVERYONE loves good feelings.

So what do people to get good feelings?  Well that depends on the person obviously, some go outside, others read blogs, others exercise, and some enjoy Lego (if you're scratching your head about the Lego this will help).  Although there are many things that bring good feelings one of the fastest ways to get them is.........

HELP somebody.

Helping people gets THANK YOU'S, and knowing that you helped someone out feels good.  Now I'm not saying everyone needs to run out and help older people cross the street (although a couple of you might), there are many different ways to approach good deeds, each resulting in varying forms of gratitude shown.

Thank You's are considered to be priceless, but if we were trying to put a value on a thank you, what could it actually be worth?

How is that possible?  I would give out a million Thank You's if they were worth that much.  Lets think about this for a minute.

How many of us like navigating through voice automation services when we call a business for help?
That's what I thought, NO ONE.

So why do businesses put us through that?  Because it's cheaper than hiring people.  Even when companies outsource their call centers and technical support it is still a major expense.  So how can businesses save money, provide service and keep everyone happy at a minimal expense?

Provide an opportunity for people to receive Thank You's.

There are a lot of smart people on-line with a ton of information at the tips of their fingers,  Many are professionals, experts, and people that love doing research.  Imagine how much simpler things would be if we enabled everyone to help each other when problems arise.  There are lots of people on the internet willing to showcase their skills in finding information and solving problems.  These resources can be tapped by businesses or individuals needing help, and thanks to the gratification people get from helping others, a lot of work is accomplished with a payment of a Thank You.

Remember last week how we discussed Talking TO your audience and not AT them (in case you missed it), one of the recommendations was to start a community where discussions could be made and people are given a chance to be heard.  Well not only can people be heard they can also help each other.  Many forums and communities are established to help users bond and utilize their knowledge.  Think of this in terms of a rope, each strand is very weak until it is woven together with many other strands increasing its strength.  Your community strengthens everyone in it the larger it gets, because there is more information being shared.  Empowering users and community members is one of the best ways you can utilize individuals talents while helping others.

From a business perspective, this is considerably less expensive (millions of $$$$) than setting up call centers for people to remain frustrated.  Utilizing social media can tap into the unlimited potential of the internet.

The only downside is that the more gratification people get from helping others the more they'll want to contribute and continue to help.  Damn those good feelings.


ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.



If this doesn't brighten up your day I don't know what will.

How do you fix Dumb? Start Talking TO your Audience Instead of AT them.

QUICK!!!!   What's the last commercial you watched? ..............


Ok, how about this, what's your favorite commercial on TV right now? .............  Still Nothing?


Do you remember any commercials?

That's ok me neither.  How much do those commercials cost that we don't remember?  Well if we're talking Super Bowl we're looking at millions of $$$$$$ and if we're not talking Super Bowl we're still talking millions of $$$ (note there are a couple less $).  That's a ton of cash being dumped into advertising that no one seems to remember.

Why do companies do it then?  Simple....... They're DUMB.
So why do most companies continue to do it?  Because....... They're DUMB.  (there seems to be a trend here)

So how do we start fixing DUMB?  It's quite simple actually, we start talking TO our target (People) instead of AT them.  Need proof?

How many of you remember the last viral video you watched? (all hands should be going up right now)

Why do we remember viral videos and not commercials?  (Hint, they're not talking AT you)
They're talking TO you.  You actually have to click on the video to watch it and that means that what ever the video is about is gaining your interest, enough that you CHOOSE to watch it.  Their message talks TO you.

There are many ways to talk TO our target (People), you won't believe it but they're all forms of social media. SURPRISE!!!!


1) Post a viral video - Easier said than done, right?  Remember viral videos don't necessarily mean millions of views (it helps), but you have to remember who your speaking to (this might help).  Every one on the internet doesn't have to see it, if you have  50,000 out of the 75,000 your targeting that's VIRAL!!!

2) Engage in social network and user generated content sites - This is where the Google+'s, Facebook's, Twitter's, and LinkedIn's come into play.  This is where direct contact is established and where personalities are "expressed" (remember my first).

3) Join the Blogoshpere - This helps spread your message while maintaining control of it.  This also engages conversation and feedback from your target.  A Google+ acquaintance +Peter G McDermott, is about to start this undertaking (he's starting a new project with blogging, not joining, but the principle remains).

4) Create a community - Communities are one of the strongest ways to communicate with your audience (remember communication goes back and forth).  They give you a chance to listen to your target and talk TO them not AT them.


Watch this and think about who the target is.

Yup it's a trick.  This Viral Video can target whomever you're intending to send it to.

If +Pepsi is sending it out to their target, people will get a laugh and think how cool Pepsi is but.......

If +Chevrolet is sending it out to their target, they won't even notice pepsi and they'll be drooling over the Camaro but........

If +NASCAR is sending it out to their target, they will be astonished at +Jeff Gordon's hilarious prank.

The same message can speak to different audiences depending on who their trying to speak TO INSTEAD of AT.


ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.

A Social Media Maze or Leap of Faith: Where is your brand going?

Mazes are a blast, everyone runs around laughing and smiling not having a clue where they're going and loving every minute of it.  Mazes are so much fun that people are even willing to pay to go in get completely turned around, disoriented, feel really dumb and come back for more.

The thing about a maze is that they can go from being a ton of fun to pure hell in 2 min flat (have you ever had to go to the bathroom when you're lost in the middle of one?).  Where does the fun go when the sun goes down?  All of a sudden a sense of panic kicks in and everyones scrabbling for the exit cause there's something creepy (I won't say scary cause real MEN don't admit stuff like that) about being lost in a maze in the dark of night.

I'm hoping everyone can see where I'm going with this (hint: its got to do with companies/peoples on-line presence).  Is your social media presence just as confusing as a maze?  Look at your posts, blogs, wikis, status updates, forums, tweets, pins, pluses, how consistent are they?

Last week I posted about Google maps and receiving direction, this week I'm supporting and adding to it.  A simple way to remember some of these lessons is to put them in an acronym. And believe me you would have to be dumb as a fence POST to forget this one.

People - This is your target.  Remember a previous post discussing how to find your target? (maybe Lego or Ladders will trigger a few memories)  Discovering what engages the audience you're targeting allows you to adapt to their needs.  If you develop a forum for commercial realtors when your audience are more COLLECTORS than CRITICS or CONTRIBUTORS it won't do you a bit of good, but if you create informative posts for your audience to share, all of a sudden your audience of COLLECTORS eat it right up and are continually coming back for more.

Objectives - What are your goals? (<-- repeat from last week / the addition -->) Is your intention to get People giving feedback, or do you want them spreading your message in promotion?  Maybe you want to market your brand better?  What ever it is YOU must decide what you want to accomplish, this has to be the FIRST step when approaching any form of social media marketing (remember this applies both personally and professionally).

Strategy - This directly ties in to your People and Objectives.  What do you want to convey to your audience?  How do you want them to react?  What form of social media will you utilize?  If your audience and feedback objectives are met from the benefits of blogging then start a blog.  If you need feedback and your audience are contributors start a forum.  Your strategy provides you with a plan of attack and gives you direction if things start to go off the rails.

Technology - Refers to the tools you're going to use.  Believe it or not, not everyone responds well to social networks (I'm talking the Google+'s, Facebook's, Twitter's), some simply prefer blogs or wiki's.  Wherever your target is that's where you go.  If you go looking for sharks in the mountains you'll be sorely disappointed.

Social media can be so beneficial to brands, companies, and personally.  It has the ability to transform peoples lives and alter brand image.  EVERYONE must realize that jumping into social media takes responsibility and strategy.  Companies can find themselves battling to try and regain control of social media gone wrong, just ask Shell about an open caption contest (it happened to be fake but grabbed everyones attention, these situations actually happen and can be a companies worst nightmare).

The reality is that once you jump there's no turning back, you can change direction but there are no guarantees.

ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.


Speaking of jumps.

Arrogance or Stupidity? Marketing Your Brand

Thank goodness for +Google Maps, WHY? Because I'm a man, and real men don't like asking for directions, now thanks to google maps I don't ever have too.  But what did I ever do before google maps and the mobile craze? Well if I knew where I was going I would plan out the trip with the good old paper maps (that were the size of the dinner table and impossible to fold back up) and follow the street signs along the way.  It was a piece of cake (mostly because I'm a man and directions are a sixth sense for us), but once we get out off our route and start "winging" it that's when "it" hits the fan and all of a sudden english starts to look like chinese.

Is a man's attitude arrogance or stupidity? (easy women don't go too crazy with that question) When it comes to social marketing do we have the same attitude or do we suck it up and ask for the directions?  The old saying is still relevant, "You don't plan to fail, you only fail to plan".  How many of us know where we're going with our brand or our companies brand?  The most common answer is EVERYWHERE, we want to be everything to everybody. WRONG!!!! If this is your plan then refer to the pic above or the dog chasing his tail in my previous post.  Whether you're doing it for yourself or your company you need to establish a plan and goals.

1. What are your objectives? Where do you want to go and why do you want to go there?  The cheshire cat said it best in Alice in Wonderland, "If it doesn't matter where you want to go, then it really doesn't matter which way you go"

2. Build a strategy - Just like the table sized maps of the past, you must take the time to plan out your trip.  Expecting to do everything all at once is impossible, but breaking your objectives down into steps gives you or the company the building blocks needed for an overall successful strategy.

3. Buy In - In a large corporation or a one man show you need to have everyone committed to the plan.  This is obviously much easier to do the smaller you are but gaining acceptance and support throughout company culture is imperative to success of the strategy.

4. Focus on a specific area - The first area that should always be mastered first is LISTENING, CAUSE IT'S ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA.  Once you've got that covered branch into specific areas like engagement or content.

5. Take small steps that make the biggest impact - Whether it's spending 15 min a day posting content and engaging users, or hiring a social media manager for the company these steps bring results. It's amazing how many people and companies want to have a million "likes" or "follower" and put no time into it.  People and companies online are successful because of their efforts and engagement.  It doesn't just magically happen because it's the internet.

6. Be authentic - How many people roll their eyes when they get the response from a company saying something along the lines of, "Thank you for your patience, we're working as hard as we can to provide you with the best services available" BARF!!!!!  You know it and so does everyone else.  You need to change this, authenticity will take you way farther than any type of canned response.

Breaking into a new industry can be tough, just ask Apple and their maps fiasco, but they listened to their customers and responded publicly telling their users to use other services for the time being and that takes GUTS.  I tip my hat to them for not just giving the canned responses when their users were upset.

When companies or people ignore their customers/followers you have to wonder if it's shear arrogance or stupidity, either way it does not help their cause it only kills it.  Where are you with your brand? Are you on track with stable growth and excellent user engagement or giving the cold shoulder in arrogance or stupidity?

Plotting out YOUR trip can make the difference in reaching your destination or remaining lost and bitter about the situation.

ANY comments, followers or shares are ALWAYS welcomed.

Having a plan will help you recognize what's right in front of your face.

Branding, Dogs, and Doughnuts

I know EVERYTHING!!!    I've made all the right decisions in my life, I'm independently wealthy, everyone is my friend, I have no enemies, and everything I touch turns to gold.  Life is good.

The frustrating part about knowing everything is that no one else sees it.  Things would be so much easier if everyone just agreed with me (all the teenagers reading this are nodding their heads right now).  I think every self proclaimed genius goes through this, thinking that if everyone could just see things the way they do everything would just make sense.

How often do we say this with OUR brand?  How many of us think that we are in complete control of our brands?  (this is where the teenagers check out and the adults start nodding)  Everyone that just said yes, you're wrong (trust me I'm always right).  The reality is that we are in control of guiding our brands but the people who really control it are, the customers/users/readers/whomever your target is.  The reason for this is they are the ultimate decision makers when it comes to brand strength.  Everyone reading this that thinks they're always right may be disagreeing with me right now, but let me ask you this, how well does a product or service do if no one is talking about it?  How successful is it if there are aspects that people don't like?  No matter how badly you want people to get past their grievances these feelings damage brands, ultimately putting brand power in the hands of consumers.

What do we do now? How do we get everyone to pay attention to what we have to say?
You make the loudest statement by LISTENING!!!  (this is where everyone that is always right just called me an idiot and went back to chasing their tails trying to figure out why everyone else doesn't see it their way, at this rate I'll be lucky to have one reader left by the end of this post)  When developing and promoting a brand you HAVE to listen to the consumer cause they're in charge.  A company can have the best product in the world but without listening, customers will find replacements elsewhere.

Let me paint a picture.  You've just discovered the greatest doughnuts in the world, so naturally you want to get your hands on them.  Driving up, you notice the line up is literally around the block and getting longer, but you decide to wait it out.  An hour later you're going crazy cause it's taking so long but the doughnuts are just to good to turn away.  45 minutes after that you finally get your doughnuts and they were worth the wait cause they're so delicious, but now you've killed roughly two hours of your day getting doughnuts.  That's ok though cause you're sure the next time you go the lines will be better, today was just a fluke.  Next week nothings changed but you suffer through the wait again but this time the doughnuts don't taste quite as good.  Your third trip to the doughnut shop shows the same lines, and this time you say to yourself "it's not worth it", and you keep driving.  So how do companies learn from this? They must figure out how to get to your inner dialog, when you get frustrated.  Brand managers need to know that there is a problem that must get fixed.

The doughnut brand is tarnished because of the poor experienced, showing us how the customer controls branding even though the company may feel that they are in control.  So how do we listen to our consumers?  Don't guess social media, don't guess social media........ Alright you guessed it, social media.  Getting information from customers can be difficult especially if you don't ask the right questions or use social media properly.  In an earlier post I talked about engagement with customers and this is why engagement is key, because without knowing what's wrong you don't know how to start fixing the problem or even know there is a problem.

Companies attempt to learn about their customers through market research, polls, questionnaires, and studies potentially sinking large amounts of money into these resources.  These investments will help companies learn peoples patterns, but it DOES NOT tell them what consumers are thinking.  These tools don't give an opportunity for customers to explain how they feel in the moment which is extremely valuable information and exactly what brand managers need.

In steps Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Yelp, and every other social media/ratings site and all of a sudden we have access to instant information from customers as they experience things.  Proper use of these tools will give incredible feedback to to managers trying to better their brands.  When developing a brand no one can afford to ignore problems or arrogantly say that they have all the answers.  They can try, but will ultimately find themselves chasing their tails trying to figure out why their brand is spiralling out of control.  LISTENING to the people that control the fate of your brand is kind of a big deal.

Any questions or clarification Please leave a comment.

Chasing tails looks exhausting and who's got time for that.

Lego, Ladders, and Social Media

I'm currently reading a book called "groundswell" and it covers a lot of the basics of social media.  Some of it is incredibly interesting, while some parts seem a little obvious.  I'm still early on in the book and nothing has grabbed my attention quite like a group of people labeled AFOL's.  What in the world is an AFOL?!?!?

An Adult Fan Of Lego (I have to admit I didn't see that one coming) I never even knew groups like this existed (no offense intended if anyone is part of this group).  But then I got thinking this is the internet and there's a lot of crazy stuff out there.  So what does this have to do with social media???  Let me ask you this, how in the world does Lego find and market to these people?  Cause according to "groundswell" AFOL's are a $50 million piece of their customer pie.

It starts by breaking down users of the internet just like rungs on a ladder.  I just happened to have found a ladder with the exact break down. (That was lucky)

So who fits where?  How many are in each rung?  How does this effect social media?
Numbers of people in each rung vary depending on country, age, gender, education, and many other variables.  The book talked about Lego lovers, but lets try this with a few different variables.  What if we were looking for cliental in commercial real estate, who fits the bill? ........ Anybody? ....... (Everyone is now flipping through their G+ circles, Facebook friends, Twitter followers trying to find someone).  Well lucky for us the internet has all the tools we need.  A friendly little group called Forrester Research has generated a tool that tells you the exact percentages within each group, with only a few characteristics needed.

In this case lets look at the results for a person that typically fits the ideal commercial real estate investor.  Let's give them an age of 35-44, geographically we'll put them in Canada, (cause that's where I call home) and we'll leave them gender neutral (because you don't have to be a specific gender to invest in real estate, we're past that).  And the RESULTS.........

Utilizing the information from the ladder and combining it with the information from Forrester's we can see that only 17% of the target market are contributors.  The reality is that the information from Forrester turns the ladder into more of a triangle as the numbers get considerably larger the further down you go.  This now gives you a group to focus on, (hint hint, it rhymes with reators and starts with a C) .......... CREATORS have tremendous influence on the critics, collectors, joiners, and spectators. (basically everyone down the ladder)  This means that if you were trying to target a specific group through social media, your best results would come from putting your efforts towards the people at the top of the food chain (or in this case the ladder).  Influencing the influencers is what you want to be doing, not trying to reach everyone and their dog.

Now back to Lego ...... This stuffs amazing.

Social Media, You've Got My Attention.

Social media has taken the world by storm.  Over the past decade what seemed to be a fun way to interact has increasingly become a need in peoples lives and they can't seem to live without it.  Constant tweets, likes on Facebook, and now plussing on Google+, have commanded the attention of young and old across the world.  Thanks to these sites, barriers are being broken down and interaction with users across continents are now a common occurrence.  And this train is only gaining momentum.

With the many different platforms available, most people have the chance to jump around from site to site and enjoy the many features they provide, but what do you do if social media is more business than pleasure?  How do you become relevant to users that have so much at their disposal?  The short answer....... YOU GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!!!

There are a few key areas that must be focused on.

1.  Engagement - If you don't respond to people, they won't respond to you.  The content that you share can be fantastic but if you're a pompous jerk no one will care what you post (pssst... there's lots of content on the internet).  Engagement brings a level of quality and care to the users enjoying your content.

2.  Interesting content - Some say content is king and they have a point cause guess what, boring is BORING.  With an internet full of crazy interesting stuff, why would anyone care about snooze news.   Unless they're having troubles sleeping.

3.  Honesty - There is so much garbage out there sometimes the most difficult aspect of social media is filtering through the fake.  Posts should be an extension of reputation, no one would want people thinking they are dirty rotten liars, so they shouldn't represent that in their posts.  Everyone falls for fake once in a while, but no one likes reading content that is way out in left field.

4.  Professionalism - This follows the same vein as honesty.  It is important to gain respect, as we all know it is earned not just given.  Keep reality in content and engagement, even though corporations are viewed as stuff shirt straight as an arrow boring entities, they need to let loose and let users know that humans do work there.  Adversely, some users need to increase their professionalism, no one wants to know how much you can pick your nose, or the last time you went to the bathroom.  Keep it clean yet fun.

There are many different aspects of social media but follow these key aspects and you'll do fine, on both personal and professional accounts.  The social media train has left the station and if you're not on it you'll be running to catch up.

Don't believe me?  Just ask Richard Branson what he thinks about social media.

What's the most important aspect to you?  VOTE in the poll at the upper right or leave a comment.